Gnocchi alla Romana: baked semolina gnocchi

This is not the standard boiled gnocchi with potatoes and flour, but a rather rich and warming variation using hard semolina flour, cooked with milk, eggs and cheese, then baked. It took me a couple times to get the texture right, but it's rewarding, great for cool weather.  This recipe is based on Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking", and similar to recipes I've seen online.

Semolina is a hard wheat grown in the south of Italy, typically used in Puglia, so it's interesting this is a Roman dish. The grind we find is much more coarse than typical flour, almost the grind of fine corn meal; in our latest rendition, we used a middle eastern brand, Ziyad, which was very coarse, but it worked well. You may have to adjust the milk to semolina ratio if it's too thin or thick.

You cook it much like polenta, stirring the grain in the milk until thickened. When spread out, it should hold its shape, and when cool, firm enough to cut without slumping too much. If it's too thin, it will be sloppy when cut and spread when baking, but still taste good.

Serves two.

500 ml    Milk, whole [2 cup]
100 g     Semolina
 80 g     Parmigiano-reggiano cheese, grated [1/2 cup]
to taste  Salt
  1 whole Egg, beaten
 26 g     Butter [1 Tbs]
  5 g     Butter, chilled hard for grating

Heat the Milk in a pot just below boiling.
Sprinkle in the Semolina and whisk to mix well.
It will seem way too thin but the Semolina will absorb the Milk and thicken quickly.
Keep whisking until too thick, then switch to a stiff spatula and continue cooking.
It should start pulling away from the sides of the pot and be rather difficult to stir.
If it's too thick, it will probably form a mass in the center or cling to the spatula,
but try to keep it exposed to the heat, spreading it on the bottom of the pot if necessary.
Cook about 20 minutes to ensure it's thick, so it will set when cool.
Remove from heat, mix in the 26 g Butter and 2/3 of the Cheese, and Salt to taste;
let cool and mix in the Egg quickly so it doesn't set.

Lightly oil a smooth cutting board, nonstick baking sheet, parchment, your counter, or even a bit of cling film; I don't recommend using water as Marcella does, as it thins the Gnocchi making them soggy.
Spread out the cooked grain and smooth it out to about 1 cm thick; I covered it with cling film and smoothed with the side of a spatula then removed the film.
Let cool so it sets firm.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
Lightly butter a baking  dish, about 20x20 cm / 8x8 inch; in these photos, I used a glazed ceramic casuela with about a 25 cm diameter; you want to cover the surface with the Semolina mixture with some overlap.
Cut into 4 cm (1.5 inch) disks with a cookie cutter or glass, dipping the edge into water to prevent sticking; layer these in an overlapping manner like shingles.

A circular overlapping shingle pattern

Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 Cheese on top, and grate the last bit of firm butter on top.
Grind a bit of black pepper if you like.

Topped with the remaining cheese, grated butter, black pepper

Bake near the top of the oven about 15-20 minutes until heated through, the top has browned a bit; you may want to crank up the broiler briefly to finish if you're not happy with the browning.
Let rest 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Attractively browned